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Energy Tomorrow is brought to you by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 500 corporate members, from the largest major oil company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of the industry. They are producers, refiners, suppliers, pipeline operators and marine transporters, as well as service and supply companies that support all segments of the industry.

EIA Today in Energy: U.S. crude oil production (including lease condensate) increased during 2014 by 1.2 million barrels per day (bbl/d) to 8.7 million bbl/d, the largest volume increase since recordkeeping began in 1900. On a percentage basis, output in 2014 increased by 16.2%, the highest growth rate since 1940. Most of the increase during 2014 came from tight oil plays in North Dakota, Texas, and New Mexico where hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling were used to produce oil from shale formations.

LNG Wold News Blog: Dominion said it has celebrated with its international business partners and Maryland community leaders the construction of the Dominion Cove Point LNG liquefaction project.
Kenichiro Sasae, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan joined Dominion Chairman Thomas F. Farrell II at the ceremony, along with Diane Leopold, president, Dominion Energy; Kazuhiro Takeuchi, president, CEO, and general manager for the Americas, Sumitomo Corp of Americas; Jayanta Sinha, president, GAIL Global U.S.A., and Steven R. Weems, president, Calvert County Board of County Commissioners.

ExxonMobil Perspectives Blog: Lawmakers in Maryland are considering legislation to extend the de facto ban on hydraulic fracturing put in place by former Governor Martin O’Malley. Specifically, Annapolis currently is considering a proposal to ban the practice in the state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale for at least three years.
This would be a bad idea for Maryland for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that natural gas has played an increasingly larger role in the state’s energy mix in recent years. Meanwhile coal has become increasingly less important.

Rice University: Lifting the 40-year-old export ban on U.S. crude oil would have far-reaching effects on pricing, energy security and energy sector investment, according to new research from the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston.
The study, “The US Crude Oil Export Ban: Implications for Price and Energy Security,” was presented today at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., by Kenneth Medlock, the center’s senior director and the paper’s author.

Last week’s release of the federal Bureau of Land Management’s new hydraulic fracturing rule suggests it’s time to update an infographic we posted last summer on the administration’s regulatory march that could impede America’s energy revolution.

Unfortunately, the administration’s plans for energy regulation aren’t encouraging – not if you truly grasp the historic opportunity that surging domestic production of oil and natural gas is providing the United States.

We’re talking about the complete rewrite of America’s energy narrative, from one of scarcity – limiting America’s economic possibilities and overshadowing its national security concerns – to one of abundance in which the U.S. is more self-sufficient, more prosperous and more secure in the world.

We call that historic, revolutionary, a true renaissance in American energy.

The Obama Administration released new federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing last Friday that could add to the cost of shale development, and add costs to the poorest Americans the most. ‘Fracking’ is already heavily regulated bythe states and new federal rules could hurt the booming shale industry in places like Wyoming – a state with the largest amount of development on federal lands. These reasons – and more – underscore the question – Do we really need new federal regulations? (Shorter: No.)

Washington Times op-ed (O’Keefe): Last month the White House submitted President Obama’s annual economic report to Congress. Nestled in the findings is a compelling case for lifting the country’s antiquated ban on natural gas exports.

“An increase in U.S. exports of natural gas, and the resulting price changes, would have a number of mostly beneficial effects,” the report states, for domestic employment, geopolitical security, our energy industry and the environment. The report ticks off numerous benefits — “create jobs in the short run,” “lower natural gas prices around the world,” “promote the use of cleaner energy abroad” — that make clear the question is not whether the United States should reconsider restrictions on natural gas exports, but when will policymakers step up to economic reality.

The value of lifting export restrictions on domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) is becoming glaringly apparent. The Obama administration’s latest report not only adds to the body of evidence indicating now is the time to act, it reaffirms that doing so aligns with the president’s priority of promoting clean, sustainable energy here at homeand abroad.

Some important context to the new federal hydraulic fracturing rule announced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is found in looking at the recent trend in federal onshore energy development.

It’s not an inspiring picture. Since BLM deals with onshore energy, let’s look at oil and natural gas output together, measured in barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Federal onshore production has declined from 1.8 million boe in fiscal year 2009 to 1.6 million boe in FY2014, a decline of 11.3 percent, according to federal data.

Breaking out the natural gas production figures, the decline is more dramatic. Onshore production of natural gas in federal areas fell from 8.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in FY2009 to 6.8 Bcf/d in FY2014, a drop of21.6 percent.

The reason is federal policy. Whether you’re talking about access to reserves or permitting red tape, the bottom-line result is declining production.

Bloomberg: Two former Obama administration officials said a four-decade-old ban on oil exports limits U.S. geopolitical influence and makes it harder to get other nations to embrace free trade.

The issue of the ban “arose constantly” in negotiations with other countries, including when the U.S. sought support for sanctions on Iran’s oil production to halt its nuclear ambitions, said Carlos Pascual, a former top energy envoy at the U.S. State Department.

“It’s those kinds of restrictions that in the end affect American credibility, and in the moment when we have to put through an important policy, makes it much more difficult to negotiate,” Pascual said at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Thursday called to build support for ending the ban in place since the 1970s Arab oil embargo.

In the video below, Pickup talks about her love for the outdoors and environmental roots – and how they’re compatible with safe, responsible energy development using advanced hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

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